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UX Design #43 in Top 100 Jobs

Troy Broas — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 00:52:39 +0000

CNN Money recently released their list of the top 100 jobs in the US for 2012. Coming in at #43 is User Experience Design. CNN Money ranked each job based on 4 pieces of criteria: Personal Satisfaction, Low Stress, Benefit to Society and Flexibility. Below is how UXD roles were scored:

Personal Satisfaction: B
Low Stress: B
Benefit to Society: C
Flexibility: B

I admit that I am a little biased since I am a User Experience Designer, so I would have rated each of those categories a little higher. I love getting to design great UX, so I would have given Personal Satisfaction an A and I would have given “Benefit to Society” at least a B. Come on, doesn’t every benefit from a better User Experience?!

Read the original article HERE.

[via CNN Money]

Microsoft Implements Responsive Design

Troy Broas — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 12:43:02 +0000

Microsoft recently went live with a preview of their redesigned consumer and business website. In keeping with the new look of almost all of Microsoft’s new products, the Metro UI/Design is the basis of the new look. In addition to the Metro UI, another key feature is the use of responsive design. Unless you live under a rock, you are already fully aware that responsive design is one of the most talked about topics in the world of UX/UI. I tested the preview site by by viewing it on my iPhone. The site functioned very well and is an excellent example of why responsive design is such hot topic right now. Jump over and view the preview site for yourself.

Sharp + Frog Design = Feel UX

Troy Broas — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 13:20:56 +0000

Sharp and Frog Design have teamed up to create a new UI for Android devices. Dubbed the “Feel UX”, this new UI will initially be rolled out on Japanese phones. One of the main features of the new UI, is the ability to personalize the lock screen. This will allow easy access to items such as music, photos or other personal data. It will be interesting to see how this latest version of a customized Android UI performs.

[Via Frog Design]

Stanford HCI Course Begins May 28th

Troy Broas — Sat, 26 May 2012 02:04:47 +0000

Earlier in the year, Stanford University announced that they would be offering a free on-line Human-Computer Interaction course. Unfortunately this course was delayed several months. I finally received an e-mail this week alerting me that the course will finally begin on May 28th. For those of you who are interested, you can still sign up at http://hci-class.org/.

Leap Motion Gesture Control

Troy Broas — Sat, 26 May 2012 01:48:40 +0000

Earlier this week, Leap Motion unveiled their Gesture Control technology. This goal of this device it to allow you to interact with your computer via gestures, similar to the Microsoft Kinect. What sets the Leap apart is that it is able to track hundreds of thousands of points at a time. As a result, the gesture tracking is incredibly accurate. It can track all ten of your finger tips at a time, or it can track the slightest movement in one finger tip.

The Leap Motion device is a small rectangular piece of hardware that will sit in front of your existing monitor. Leap is also currently in talks with several hardware manufacturers to get this technology built into laptops and other devices. After watching the demo video on several websites, I admit that I am incredibly impressed with how fluid this technology seems to be. Another factor that seems incredible to me is the price. Currently the Leap Motion is on pre-order for just $69.99. For that price, I am tempted to place my order so I can experiment with this thing in person.

With Microsoft releasing Kinect for PCs and now the Leap Motion Gesture Control device entering the market, it seems as we are heading quickly to interacting with our devices Minority Report/Tony Stark style sooner rather than later. I’m not sure about you, but I’m getting excited

Check out the demo below to see the Leap Motion in action.

[Via Leap Motion]

Adobe CS6 Released Today

Troy Broas — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:16:00 +0000

There probably isn’t a User Experience Designer out there today that doesn’t touch at least one of the Adobe tools on a daily basis. Adobe officially released Adobe CS6 and the “Creative Cloud” today. The software will be available in approximately 30 days and is ready for pre-order. Adobe Photoshop received several key updates, including a new graphics engine called “Mercury”, a new “Dark” UI and the ability to edit video. Illustrator also received “Dark UI” update and few key additions in functionality that allow you to easily create patterns and apply gradients to strokes. My personal favorite Adobe application, Fireworks, also received a few updates, but I will be covering these in a future post.

One of the biggest changes this year for Adobe is the “Creative Cloud” subscription service. This service provides the option to pay for the Adobe Suite monthly, rather than the traditional pricing model. Prices for a one year commitment start at $49 a month, while month-to-month subscriptions will cost $79 a month. It will be interesting to see how users react to this new pricing model.

You can catch the official launch at today 10 am Pacific Time.

Microsoft Office 15 UI Leaked

Troy Broas — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:30:11 +0000

Screen shots of the updated UI for the upcoming Microsoft Office 15 have been obtained by The Verge. The new UI has a very clean minimal look that incorporates the Metro UI style that the company is rolling out for Windows 8. By default, Microsoft’s ribbon is collapsed and the suite is being developed to run as a full screen app. In addition, the use of text and typography is being heavily incorporated as opposed to icons. This is still an early build and the UI will likely include some additional changes, but overall I like the direction that Microsoft is going. Jump on over to the Verge to view the full gallery of screen shots.

[Via TheVerge]

Goodbye Start Menu?

Troy Broas — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:51:23 +0000

According to various blogs, the latest build of the Microsoft 8 beta has revealed that Microsoft is planning to do away with the Start Menu. As you probably know by now, the next version of their OS, Windows 8, will introduce the new “Metro UI”. The lower left corner where the Start Menu normally is positioned will now be a “hot spot” or “hot corner” that can be used to toggle between the Metro UI and the traditional Windows Desktop UI. It will be interesting to see what the team at Microsoft implements in the final release of Windows 8. Jump over to the official Building Windows 8 Blog to read a post from last October about evolving the Start menu.

Free HCI Course from Stanford University

Troy Broas — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:21:35 +0000

Stanford University will be offering several free online courses, including a course on Human-Computer Interaction. The course will be taught by Associate Professor of Computer Science Scott Klemmer. The sessions will be comprised of two hours of video a week (each one lasting 8 to 12 minutes), and will be self-paced and will also contain quizzes and programming assignments. Jump over to the website if you are interested in learning more.

Android Design

Troy Broas — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:39:30 +0000

Google has officially launched a website dedicated to Android Design. With the release of Ice Cream Sandwich, Google is encouraging developers to stick to unified UI guidelines, much like what Apple has established with their iOS Human Interface Guidelines. The new site provides a comprehensive guide to styles, patterns and building blocks that will hopefully assist developers in proving Android users with an unified User Experience across apps. This is definitely a much welcomed and valuable resource for Android developers.